
In and out of Africa
The material girl seems to have turned the maternal girl with her adoption of a little Malawian boy. In keeping with the ‘We are the world’ sentiment, she now plans to adopt her new son’s country also. The tiny nation in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the least developed in the world. In 2006, Malawi was brought under the umbrella of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries programme. The economy keeps afloat on foreign aid to which we may now add Madonna’s millions. Now cynics may say that posing with little David amid the backdrop of abject poverty is yet another attempt by the iconic superstar to reinvent herself. An art at which she is no slouch, we might add. Witness her transformation from heretic, bustier clad wild cat to saviour of the suffering in Africa.
Madge has big plans for Malawi where out of a population of 12 million, one million are orphans. David’s adoption was fraught with controversy but feisty Madonna refuses to be put off. Whether Malawi likes it or not, she is determined to pull it up by its bootstraps. She will offload at least $ 3 million to fund Aids orphans. Is this the Evita complex, a carry-over from the musical she starred in on the life of Eva Peron, Argentina’s first lady and Madonna of its poor?
Maybe, but who’s complaining? God knows, very few care two hoots about Africa. Groucho Marx’s famous line, “Africa is God’s country and God can keep it,” seems the prevalent mood. In fact, there seems a sort of competition as to which celebrity can help Africa more. The more the merrier. Do the locals welcome all this attention? Well, the stones pelted at Madonna’s car doesn’t seem to suggest that the receivers are as enthusiastic as the giver.

‘No teeth’: SC wants stricter OTT rules
- Giving two weeks to the government to come back with its response, the bench then formally recorded in its order that one of the issues that has caught its attention is “uncontrolled and unscreened viewing of films” on Amazon Prime Video and other OTT platforms.

Widen network, say experts as India aims to boost drive
- The roughly 20,000 centres being used for the vaccine drive at the moment are hospitals, private as well as public, while many primary and secondary health centres at present are kept out of the programme.

New Delhi rejects report as ‘misleading, misplaced’
- The external affairs ministry, which too rejected Freedom House’s report, also took exception to the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir in the map used in the document.

OCIs need nod for Tablighi, journalistic work: Centre
- A home ministry spokesperson said these rules prepared by the Foreigners’ Division were part of a brochure issued on November 15, 2019. The rules were consolidated and notified on Thursday.

K’taka ministers move court against airing of ‘defamatory content’
- After the allegations on Jarkiholi, there were unverified reports of several similar videos and other sex scandals against other cabinet ministers.

India set to achieve Paris pact targets before deadline: PM Modi
- India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

CM in 1st list; DMK-Cong hit stalemate
- On the other hand, the DMK’s stalemate continued with its main and long standing ally, the Congress, on seat sharing.

EC orders removal of PM’s images from vaccine certificates: Officials
- The person said it was imperative that the photographs are removed from certificates distributed in the poll bound states, adding that the system can continue in other states.

PM to head committee, Sonia and Tendulkar among 259 members
- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, former President Pratibha Patil, economist Amartya Sen, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, spiritual leader Baba Ramdev, chief ministers of states and senior political leaders are among those included in the panel.

NIA probes Jamaat-e-Islami’s J&K chapter
- According to Indian agencies, the JeI has maintained that J&K is a disputed territory.

YSRC bags all 6 MLC seats unopposed; silent on abolition of legislative council
- Interestingly, the election of the six YSRC members comes at a time when a resolution adopted by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state assembly in January 2020, seeking abolition of the legislative council, is still pending with the Union home ministry.

Andhra CM Jagan Reddy urges SC to restart Amravati land scam probe
- When the matter came up before a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy on Friday, the bench adjourned it to April 7 as it had no time for a full fledged hearing.

6 new cases of UK’s Covid-19 strain found in Indore, warning issued
- Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also held a review meeting on Friday to discuss with the divisional commissioners the steps being taken to contain the spread of the infection.

Container Corporation of India to push production, end dependency on China
- There is a cost difference of about 25-30 per cent in containers made in India and abroad.

India pushes China for disengagement at remaining friction points on LAC
- After an agreement last month on pulling back frontline troops along with armoured vehicles and artillery from strategic heights around Pangong Lake, the two sides have been unable to make progress on disengagement at other friction points such as Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra.